This research study is looking into the way that veterinary medicines are used and recorded on dairy farms. We know that there is a big gap in our knowledge about this subject at the moment, and what happens to medicines after the vet has prescribed them to the farm is currently not well known. This project hopes to find out how much of these medicines get used, why certain medicines are chosen, how this is recorded on farms and, most importantly, what dairy farmers think about the way they use and record their medicines.

The study is about gathering data about what happens on a day-to-day basis on farms. This study will not provide guidance about medicine use and will not aim to reduce, influence or in any way change medicine use on the study farms; there will be no interventions or changes made - observation is the only aim of the study.

As many of you will be aware, the use of medicines (and antibiotics in particular) is under scrutiny in the dairy industry at the moment. In order to make sure that a fair picture of how dairy farmers currently use their medicines is available to inform any changes, this study will be very important in maintaining the health, productivity and welfare of dairy cattle in the UK in the future.

Project no longer recruiting